Anyone know the status of Husky at the upcoming International Motorcycle Show? They kick off in Arizona at the end of Oct. Just curious. BMW with Husky? No Husky at all? Huge Husky section with all the goods?
I don't know anything about this year, but I was supremely disappointed that neither Husky nor Triumph felt it worthwhile to show up last year. Those were the only 2 makes I was interested in. Year before last there were so many people at the Husky booth that I had to practically wait in line to get my hands on one of the TE's. WoodsChick
BMW is only representing at Long Beach and NY this year, so I highly doubt that if BMW can't price justify having BMW at all the IMS's that HSQ could with a 10th of the volume. You figure KTM has had some stellar growth in the past and none of it as result of IMS attendance. I'd like to see BMW and HSQ at all the shows personally, but I can understand the business side of it and it would be hard to justify at the prices the IMS can demand.
Under Cagiva Husky was at all the shows. It seemed to generate significant buzz, and served to re-introduce the brand. Long Beach had long lines, and i had to wait an hour or so to talk to Rob Keith. BMW was big as well, at least in Long Beach. Both BMW and Husky had Baja 1000 bikes on display, including the H2 and Uptites winning 250cc bike. Husky even had Malcolm Smith signing autorgraphs at their booth 3 years ago. They really did have a big presence. I know its expensive, and time consuming for Rob or now Scott. But still it seems like it was worth it. I'll be bummed if they arent at all the shows, but it sounds like they wont. Too bad.
I heard that it cost Cagiva almost $1 million to go to all those shows. No way is BMW going to spend that much on Husky.
No way BMW is even spending that on their own line up this year,....let alone Husky. What you will see is ALOT of press starting Nov 1 in trade publications like Cycle News and then quite a few banner ads on various websites. Come January we'll start seeing stuff in the big prints like DR and DB, etc.
January, perfect timing, just after most riders have commited to what brand they are riding. Oh well, it is good to see them pushing the product. It will take time.
check out this months Dirt Bike. The Husky mother ship payed for a bunch of US moto journalists to spend a week in Italy riding '09 Huskys. Not sure if Frederica took em clubbing or not...but the press dividends are already showing up.
The logistics for a manufacture to do this show are huge. Last year Rob Keith was at the Seattle show and several others. They are so short staffed I couldn't imagine them pulling it off. Triumph pulled out because they did not feel it was worth the 900,000 bucks it costs to do it every year. ECIMA is the only show to go to, and Milan is great in the fall. Plus within one hour you have the Augusta museum, with in 2 hours you can be at Husqvarna, 1.5 hours to Como, a cool town where kids race SM125's around all night.
and don't forget Monza where Fabrizio Pirovano rides around on the rear wheel of his Yamaha SBK with his woman on the back!!! I love the "rules" there. I have some great stories about driving there that involve both Carabinieri and Polizia stradale.
Carabineri seem to prefer talking to girls and smoking cigarettes rather than any real police work : )
Milano IS the only show for all intents and purposes. The U.S. IMS shows are cash cows for the promoters and little else of commercial value for exhibitors. There are more economical and cost-effective media for sales promotion by mfr's. Milano, and to a lesser extent, Paris, are where new products can be introduced by mfr's to a global marketplace thereby justifying the high cost and huge effort of being there. It is also where the industry itself can gather to do business with each other which is a big part of the show, unknown to the average retail attendee. The IMS shows do nothing of that nature. Bin there, dun all of that...
37 year old Joe Schmoe that wants a to update his 1998 XR to something with a factory license plate will be at the USA IMS shows though. He may have his family or buddies with him. His $ is precious to him especially these days and he might like to at least see a bike that he is considering ordering from his Husqvarna dealer. He may be tempted to go with the Honda / Yamaha offerings instead cause "parts are easy to get" and are a known quantity in his mind. Or maybe KTM cause so many others ride them. Joe Schmoe, his family & friends are the ones that will be the ones increasing sales for Husqvarna. He already knows about the others brands cause he has friends that rides them. .
Dean, With the greatest of respect, when Husky sold 13,000 bikes a year in the US market, early-mid '70's, these shows might have made sense, tho' more because they weren't so stupidly expensive to do than because they sold bikes. Today, with the much smaller sales numbers, they simply are not a wise use of limited marketing dollars. National advertising, support for racers, special event attendance, dealer advertising incentives and co-op, new dealer development, ad infinitum, all take muy buckeroos and offer more tangible results. May I gently point out that Cagiva USA attended the IMS shows regularly, spending large sums of money that could have been better spent on parts inventory and distribution, and sold no more bikes than they would have otherwise done. I know perfectly well that your 37 year old Joe Schmoe dearly loves to hop in his '77 Ford F250 Hi-boy and tool down to the local convention center on a rainy Saturday afternoon to kick tires on all his dream toys and tell war stories to the show booth staffs, but it simply does not make business sense to indulge him. Not if the manufacturer/distributor is to keep adequate inventories, back-up parts, technical support, a strong dealer network, AND have enuff $$ left to survive beyond this model year. Commercial verities, my friend.
Husqvarna is missing out on Joe Schmoe at the motorcycles shows. And some sales will be lost because of that. In no way am I suggesting Husqvarna should do the shows however. Based on what was said the shows are expensive and there many other places to better put their resources as you mentioned. If they do want to increase sales magazine ads are a less expensive alternative, and internet advertising is even less expensive. Speaking of which - I hope they fix up the Husqvarna site soon, but I'm sure they already know about that.
the world is strange,,,Pirovano just came to mind,,,,,guess who, out of the blue was hanging with us at eicma,,,,,,Fabrizio Pirovano That was a bizarre coincidence, he is as small as ever but larger than life in personality!! EICMA was very very good
